As college students, we are in school for a reason. We choose to be here. We yearn for knowledge. We have specific goals for ourselves. We are (relatively) responsible.
As college students, we also bathe in stress. We soak it in. We marinate in it.
We find ourselves struggling to balance four lectures, two labs, research projects, internships, part-time jobs, extracurricular activities and social lives. We grew up hearing “school comes first,” so we began prioritizing our grades and letting our GPA define us.
It certainly isn’t a problem that we prioritize our grades, but it is a problem that a majority of us put our health on the back burner. We forget that our mental health is more important than our grades. We pull all-nighters, we skip the gym, we eat less-than-nutritional food, we binge drink coffee and alcohol – all because we are “too busy.”
It’s understandable that we want to do well in school. We want the best for ourselves and know we can do better. But caring so much instills an expectation to take on perfectionist habits. We get anxious and depressed. Sometimes we cry over bad grades. Sometimes we doubt ourselves and genuinely think we are not good enough. Sometimes we wonder if we are even going anywhere in life.
If you think about it, it isn’t acceptable to be too busy to take care of ourselves. Anxiety and stress are more prevalent in the lives of today’s students than in any other generation of students, so why aren’t we taking better care of ourselves? Stress harms us in sneaky ways we might not even notice (check out this Her Campus article to learn a little more).
One of the best ways to deal with anxiety and stress is by exercising. Taking good care of your body has a direct effect on your mental health! You feel happier, energized and motivated to tackle life’s struggles with a positive mindset. If we prioritize our health more, it’s likely we’ll see improvements in many different aspects of our lives, including our grades.
We just want to remind you that your health truly is more important than your grades. In the future, which will be more important: your health or your GPA?